--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: A man must have something to cling to…" description: "\"A man must have something to cling to. Without that he is as a pea vine sprawling in search of a trellis… I was all asprawl, clinging to Beauty, which ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0d4/e-b-white-1448_beauty_a-man-must-have-something-to-cling-to-wi_2289065.png" --- # A man must have something to cling to. Without that he is… ![“A man must have something to cling to. Without that he is as a pea vine sprawling in search of a trellis… I was all asprawl, clinging to Beauty, which is a very restless trellis.” quote by E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0d4/e-b-white-1448_beauty_a-man-must-have-something-to-cling-to-wi_2289065.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0d4/e-b-white-1448_beauty_a-man-must-have-something-to-cling-to-wi_2289065.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0d4/e-b-white-1448_beauty_a-man-must-have-something-to-cling-to-wi_2289065.png) > “A man must have something to cling to. Without that he is as a pea vine sprawling in search of a trellis… I was all asprawl, clinging to Beauty, which is a very restless trellis.” [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. People need a stable focus or belief to give direction; without it, life feels aimless and scattered. **In simple terms:** A steady purpose prevents aimlessness. Key Takeaway Find a guiding principle. Themes purpose stability identity Mood reflective thoughtful Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - career planning - creative projects - personal growth - relationship building Key Concepts existentialism psychology Questions to Reflect On - What core belief anchors you? - How do you balance stability with flexibility? A Different Perspective A single purpose may become restrictive if too rigid. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Beauty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beauty/) [Clinging](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/clinging/) [Clinging Beauty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/clinging-beauty-5371488/) [Man Cling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/man-cling-4563633/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Peas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/peas/) [Restless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/restless/) [Restless Trellis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/restless-trellis-5371487/) [Search Trellis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/search-trellis-5371489/) [Trellis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/trellis-3116479/) [Vines](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vines/) [Wise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wise/) [Wise words](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wise-words/) ## Related quotes > [He's a trellis for varicose veins.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilson-mizner/he-s-a-trellis-for-varicose-veins/) [Wilson Mizner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilson-mizner/) > [“A man should cling to hope.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-r-r-martin/a-man-should-cling-to-hope/) [George R.R. Martin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-r-r-martin/) > [Nobody wants somebody who wants them for what they have or the position their in- you want somebody who wants you for you. In…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-d-jakes/nobody-wants-somebody-who-wants-them-for-what-they-have-or-the/) [T. D. Jakes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-d-jakes/) > [When you're the only pea in the pod, your parents are likely to get you confused with the Hope diamond.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/russell-baker/when-you-re-the-only-pea-in-the-pod-your-parents-are-likely-to-get/) [Russell Baker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/russell-baker/) > [Someone is dead. Even the trees know it, those poor old dancers who come on lewdly, all pea-green scarfs and spine pole.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/someone-is-dead-even-the-trees-know-it-those-poor-old-dancers-who/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [Now hoppin'-john was F. 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It's a Puerto Rican dish my mother taught me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/essence-atkins/i-like-to-make-arroz-con-gandules-rice-with-pigeon-peas-my-husband/) [Essence Atkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/essence-atkins/) > [The first one who smelt it ain't the one who delt it. Black Eyed Peas keep the scent blind like delta.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-i-am-2/the-first-one-who-smelt-it-ain-t-the-one-who-delt-it-black-eyed-peas/) [Will I Am](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-i-am-2/) > [Children pick up words as pigeons peas And utter them again as God shall please.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-ray/children-pick-up-words-as-pigeons-peas-and-utter-them-again-as-god/) [John Ray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-ray/) > [Botanically speaking, tomatoes are the fruit of a vine, just as are cucumbers, squashes, beans and peas.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace-gray/botanically-speaking-tomatoes-are-the-fruit-of-a-vine-just-as-are/) [Horace Gray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace-gray/) > [Black Eyed Peas is a chameleon group.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-i-am/black-eyed-peas-is-a-chameleon-group/) [will.i.am](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-i-am/) > [Reader, you may ask this queston. In fact, you must ask this question. Is it ridiculous for a very small, sickly, big-eared mouse to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-dicamillo/reader-you-may-ask-this-queston-in-fact-you-must-ask-this-question-is/) [Kate DiCamillo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-dicamillo/) > [I liked playing Morph in Mash and Peas and doing Phil Daniels in the Blur Rock Profile was a giggle too.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-putner/i-liked-playing-morph-in-mash-and-peas-and-doing-phil-daniels-in-the/) [Paul Putner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-putner/) > [It is a great delusion to suppose that flesh-meat of any kind is essential to health. Considerably more than three parts of the work…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catherine-booth/it-is-a-great-delusion-to-suppose-that-flesh-meat-of-any-kind-is/) [Catherine Booth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catherine-booth/) ## More by E. B. White > [Writing is an act of faith, not a trick of grammar.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/writing-is-an-act-of-faith-not-a-trick-of-grammar/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [“To hear, in the short space of one week, a Scottish terrier booed by an audience and President Roosevelt criticized by Charles Lindbergh was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/to-hear-in-the-short-space-of-one-week-a-scottish-terrier-booed-by-an/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [The sea answers all questions, and always in the same way; for when you read in the papers the interminable discussions and the bickering…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/the-sea-answers-all-questions-and-always-in-the-same-way-for-when-you/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [New York blends the gift of privacy with the excitement of participation; and better than most dense communities it succeeds in insulating the individual…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/new-york-blends-the-gift-of-privacy-with-the-excitement-of/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [The terror of the atom age is not the violence of the new power but the speed of man's adjustment to it, the speed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/the-terror-of-the-atom-age-is-not-the-violence-of-the-new-power-but/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [When my wife's Aunt Caroline was in her nineties, she lived with us, and she once remarked: 'Remembrance is sufficient of the beauty we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/when-my-wife-s-aunt-caroline-was-in-her-nineties-she-lived-with-us/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [Sailors have an expression about the weather: they say the weather is a great bluffer. I guess the same is true of our human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/sailors-have-an-expression-about-the-weather-they-say-the-weather-is/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [Anyone who writes down to children is simply wasting his time. You have to write up, not down.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/anyone-who-writes-down-to-children-is-simply-wasting-his-time-you/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [A writer should concern himself with whatever absorbs his fancy, stirs his heart, and unlimbers his typewriter. ... A writer has the duty to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/a-writer-should-concern-himself-with-whatever-absorbs-his-fancy-stirs/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [Every morning I awake torn between a desire to save the world and an inclination to savor it. This makes it hard to plan…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/every-morning-i-awake-torn-between-a-desire-to-save-the-world-and-an/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [I seldom went to bed before two or three o'clock in the morning, on the theory that if anything of interest were to happen…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/i-seldom-went-to-bed-before-two-or-three-o-clock-in-the-morning-on/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [Necessity first mothered invention. Now invention has little ones of her own, and they look just like grandma.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/necessity-first-mothered-invention-now-invention-has-little-ones-of/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [The bonus is really one of the great give-aways in business enterprise. It is the annual salve applied to the conscience of the rich…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/the-bonus-is-really-one-of-the-great-give-aways-in-business/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [There's no limit to how complicated things can get, on account of one thing always leading to another.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/there-s-no-limit-to-how-complicated-things-can-get-on-account-of-one/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [The critic leaves at curtain fall To find, in starting to review it, He scarcely saw the play at all For starting to review…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/the-critic-leaves-at-curtain-fall-to-find-in-starting-to-review-it-he/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) [Explore all 240 E. B. White quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) ## More Beauty quotes > [We do not want nowadays temples of worship and outward rites and ceremonies. What we really want is an Asram. We want a place…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rabindranath-tagore/we-do-not-want-nowadays-temples-of-worship-and-outward-rites-and/) [Rabindranath Tagore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rabindranath-tagore/) > [How could anybody confuse truth with beauty, I thought as I looked at him. Truth came with sunken eyes, bony or scarred, decayed. Its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/how-could-anybody-confuse-truth-with-beauty-i-thought-as-i-looked-at/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) > [A thing of beauty is a joy for ever;It's loveliness increase;it will never pass into nothingness;but still will keep a bower quiet for us,and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-keats/a-thing-of-beauty-is-a-joy-for-ever-it-s-loveliness-increase-it-will/) [John Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-keats/) > [To fathom the power, to witness the beauty, to bathe in the fountain, to swing on the spiral of our divinity, and still be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tool/to-fathom-the-power-to-witness-the-beauty-to-bathe-in-the-fountain-to/) [Tool](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tool/) > [The term "black metal" has become a lot looser, or can include a larger range of sounds and extra-musical aesthetics, not just Satan and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-marston/the-term-black-metal-has-become-a-lot-looser-or-can-include-a-larger/) [Colin Marston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-marston/) > [“We've all met people who are beautiful on the outside, however, when they open their mouths to speak, they have nothing of substance to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-c-young/we-ve-all-met-people-who-are-beautiful-on-the-outside-however-when/) [Susan C. Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-c-young/) > [There are various orders of beauty, causing men to make fools of themselves in various styles.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/there-are-various-orders-of-beauty-causing-men-to-make-fools-of/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [To me, the beauty of a quilt or a dress lies within the stitches and the thought of the person who made them. When…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natalie/to-me-the-beauty-of-a-quilt-or-a-dress-lies-within-the-stitches-and/) [Natalie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natalie/) > [“do not misunderstand person by beauty You really do not know its real or Mask on dirty thoughts”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mohammed-zaki-ansari/do-not-misunderstand-person-by-beauty-you-really-do-not-know-its-real/) [Mohammed Zaki Ansari](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mohammed-zaki-ansari/) > [“I already love in you your beauty, but I am only beginning to love in you that which is eternal and ever precious –…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/i-already-love-in-you-your-beauty-but-i-am-only-beginning-to-love-in/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [The more perfect the sight is the more delightful the beautiful object. The more perfect the appetite, the sweeter the food. The more musical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-baxter/the-more-perfect-the-sight-is-the-more-delightful-the-beautiful/) [Richard Baxter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-baxter/) > [Call her beautiful a million times and she won't believe you. Call her ugly once, and she will never forget it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tumblr/call-her-beautiful-a-million-times-and-she-won-t-believe-you-call-her/) [Tumblr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tumblr/) > [Time can but make her beauty over again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/time-can-but-make-her-beauty-over-again/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [ The social \[media channel\] isn't about beauty contests and popularity contests. They're a distortion, a caricature of the real thing. It's about trust, connection,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/umair-haque/the-social-media-channel-isn-t-about-beauty-contests-and-popularity/) [Umair Haque](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umair-haque/) > [“What about you? What do you do?” I needed to ask questions, draw him out. I needed to find out all the information I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-avery-ellison/what-about-you-what-do-you-do-i-needed-to-ask-questions-draw-him-out/) [Kate Avery Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-avery-ellison/) [Browse all 24,662 Beauty quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beauty/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "A man must have something to cling to. Without that he is as a pea vine sprawling in search of a trellis… I was all asprawl, clinging to Beauty, which is a very restless trellis.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "E. B. 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